Intake manifold construction, intercoolers

[Bernd Felsche]

bill.shurvinton at nokia.com tapped away at the keyboard with:

> Now we have strayed into market expectations.
> 
> In US, those who owned their first cars before 1974 had BIG engines, low
> revs, autos, megatorque etc. In Europe we had piddly little 750cc side
> valves with 4 speed manuals. Added to which driving styles are very

1974 - it was predominately overhead valves if not overhead cams,
along with about 1.5 litre displacement. Sure, there were new cars
with less displacement but the real volume was at least 1200cc.
Except maybe Italy with their idiotic tax system of the time.

Fuel has generally been considered expensive in Europe - I remember
that being the case in the 1960's. It's been getting worse since.
Low fuel consumption was therefore as much a priority as low engine
capacity to avoid high taxes.

Small, multi-valve engines weren't just in cars. They were on
motorbikes as well.

EFI was basically impractical until the 1970's. Merc and Bosch
worked together (IIRC) on the development of D-Jetronic, not only as
a means of reducing emissions, but also to improve driveability. And
driveability was definitely a seller.

Bosch did (as we know) also produce a cheaper mechanical, continuous
fuel injection system that survived in production cars into the
early 1990's (after adding some electronic gadgets). AFAIK, nobody
uses a K-Jetronic based system any more in new cars. The EFI became
cheaper, more flexible, more reliable and more sellable...

Customer demand very much drove those developments. There's a nice
chart in SAE's latest AE showing that engines produce far more power
than they did 15 years ago, yet emissions haven't improved to the
same degree. Cars have also gotten heavier, but the power to weight
ratio is still increasing.

The EPA may well be giving the Engineers good excuses to get their
ideas past the accountants into cars.

> different, as the roads are very different. Upshot being, at least in
> Europe, we like 4-pot screamers.

> Or to put it another way, In UK we  don't get it about the 'vette. In US
> they don't get it about the Lotus 7. Crass oversimplification, but a
> kernel of truth

> I believe that ya pays and ya takes ya choice. Having lived in the USA,
> I now understand 'vettes, harleys and boat-like suspension

A friend of mine recently took a holiday; a round the world trip. He
drove a long way in a rental in the USA. He couldn't believe how bad
the car was; abysmal handling, crappy fittings, etc. The aircon was
good though.
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